31. Chapter 30
Siobhan
S tephanie had been gone for a couple of weeks now, and I’d barely heard from her. For her sake, I hoped she was having the time of her life, but she’d been a little quiet on her phone calls. After not hearing from her for a couple of days, I’d had enough waiting for her to call.
As I settled onto the loveseat in my trailer, I opened up FaceTime and dialed Stephanie. She picked up almost right away. Her grin was so wide. “Mommy!”
It was so easy to return the smile since I loved my little girl who shared my spirit, even if she shared most of her facial features with her dad.
Stephanie looked a little unkempt. It was as if she hadn’t had a proper bath in a couple of days and hadn’t used a hairbrush to pull her hair into a ponytail. On top of that, it was a very loose ponytail. It seemed unlike her since she always had perfect hair. Something she learned from her sports.
“Hey, baby. How are you doing?”
“I hate it here. Dad never has time for me. I miss you, Carter, and cheer practice. I can’t do any stunts.”
I pulled a face. I hated hearing that she was feeling neglected, but it was something I half expected. Her missing cheer and the fact that she could only focus on her stretching and solo work weren’t too surprising. She loved being a flyer and being tossed into the air.
What I didn’t expect, but it seriously warmed my heart, was that she missed Carter as well. Which was good since I was seriously falling for him. Until now, I wasn’t sure if she even liked him.
I didn’t want to tell her that I couldn’t just fly her back on a whim. But things had been so much better since we hired Lou. Maybe Russell would want to discuss when she should fly back.
“I miss you, too. You’ll be home soon enough.”
“Good.” There was some commotion going on in Stephanie’s background, but it sounded muffled.
She grimaced. “I have to go to dinner. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
I hated how quickly she had to go. But it was good to talk to her for a little bit.
As I was trying to figure out how to ask Russell about sending Stephanie back to me, I got a message from him.
A pit formed in my stomach. I hated talking to her father so much.
Hopefully, it wouldn’t be one of his hateful messages telling me how much I sucked and how horrible I was.
But it was a little early for that since his most hateful was after he had a drink or two.
After taking a deep breath, I was surprised when firm, callous hands rubbed my back. I looked over my shoulder. Carter had snuck in. He immediately kissed my ear. “Hey, babe.”
He was in his game-day suit.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Seeing my love before the game.”
I didn’t know what was more endearing. The fact that he was here, the way he was so damn casual with his words of endearment, or the fact that he could make me forget that I had to deal with Russell’s crap next.
His fingers continued to rub out the knots in my neck. I melted with his touch. He leaned forward and whispered, “What’s got you so stressed out? I thought things were pretty good when you left this morning.”
I hated how easily he picked up on things like this. But he was right when he said things were so much better lately. There had been no more cases of vandalism to my house.
“I finally talked to Stephanie. She wants to come home, and of course, Russell just texted. I haven’t worked up the strength to read the text since lord knows what he wants.”
His fingers worked their way down my neck as they tried to rub out my stress. It was such a subtle way to let me know he was there for me as I read the text message.
There have been no new attacks on your house or you. Steph doesn’t want to be here. Pick a date for her to fly back.
That was far easier than I expected, although his tone was curt. Then again, he’d really gotten used to the world bending over backward for him.
It was weird how he knew that nothing new had happened to me or the house. I hadn’t mentioned anything to Stephanie, and I wouldn’t, since I didn’t want to scare her, so it made me wonder how he knew.
Was he behind some of this shit? But that seemed a little insane, even for him.
Carter sucked on my earlobe, and as I reopened my eyes when he pulled back, he whispered, “So?”
“He wants to send Stephanie back. Would you mind if she comes back to our little bubble and stays at your place again?”
Before I could get an answer or even try to give him a pre-game quickie, there was a knock on the door, and a voice called out, “You’re needed on set in ten.”
Damn, it was time to return to the world and get back to work.
“She’s your daughter. Of course she’s welcome to stay.” He turned me so I could see clearly into his crystal blue eyes. “Kill it out there. Sorry that I can’t stay.”
He was always so damn practical. But it was a relief that Stephanie could move in with us again.
“What did I do to deserve you?”
It was more meant as a hypothetical question, but the way it made Carter break out his trademark grin, I didn’t regret saying it.
He answered, “I ask myself that every day.”
It was such a sappy line, but I loved it. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and as our kiss deepened, he grabbed my ass and hefted me into his arms.
There was another bang on the door, so our lips slowly broke apart. There was sadness in his eyes. Not being able to bear that, I put on a brave face. “Go kick some ass. I’ll be watching you and waiting for you to get home.”
“In my jersey, I hope.”
I laughed at that request since it wasn’t far off. He shook his head and did that growl guys did when they were sexually aroused but couldn’t act on it just yet.